Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (2008)
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages is an epic fantasy novel written by American author Brandon Sanderson. It was pu blished on October 14, 2008 by Tor Books and is the third novel in the Mistborn trilogy.1 It is preceded by The Well of Ascension in 2007 and followed by The Alloy of Law in the Mistborn: Era 2 series, Wax and Wayne in 2011. Plot Summary At the end of the previous book, Vin released the power in the Well of Ascension in order to achieve what she believed was protecting the world, at the expense of losing Elend Venture, her husband. It is revealed that Vin was tricked into releasing the power at the Well, rather than using it, and unleashed Ruin who had been imprisoned there. Before Vin killed the Lord Ruler he warned her she was dooming the world and Vin now realises the Terris prophecies were falsified. An apparition helped her locate a bead of lerasium - the condensed form of Preservation - in the Well's chamber, turning Elend into a Mistborn when he ate it and subsequently, with the ability to burn pewter, saved his life. As the world begins to succumb to Ruin's influence, earthquakes shake the land in ever greater frequencies, the ash falls from the sky constantly and Inquisitors and koloss, no longer controlled by the Lord Ruler, rampage across the world. The mists are appearing in daylight now and even worse, killing those foolish enough to venture out into it. Elend holds a tenuous grip as Emperor as he and Vin search for the storage caches and atium stash the Lord Ruler hid in the event Ruin was freed. Sazed continues to struggle with his faith, trying and failing to find a religion that makes sense, while he, along with Breeze, try to help Elend take over the rebel city of Urteau. Sent as a spy, Spook attempts to uproot the Urteau rebellion and incidentally gains strange abilities. He is referred to as the "Survivor of the Flames" for his near miraculous actions followed by his involvement in the rebellion in Urteau. TenSoon returns to the kandra Homeland in the hopes to convince his kind to work with the humans to fight Ruin. Instead he is called a liar, imprisoned for his numerous crimes and stripped of his bones, and placed in a pit as punishment. Later in the book, TenSoon is called for sentencing, where they give him a set of dog bones he had kept, imagining this would be degrading to TenSoon. Instead, TenSoon uses the agility of the bones and his experience with them to dodge his captors and escape from the Homeland. Vin and Elend attempt to conquer Fadrex City and its rebel king, Aradan Yomen. Along the way they discover patterns to the mist killings and the secrets of Hemalurgy. Fearing to discuss their plans openly in case Ruin could overhear, Vin is captured by Yomen when she attempts a solo mission to get into the storage cache and find the atium stash. Yomen uses her as ransom while Elend's koloss army succumbs to the will of Ruin. Turning against him, Elend and his human army are granted sanctuary inside the walls of Fadrex City. Meanwhile, Vin escapes and heads towards Luthadel where she confronts the last of the Inquisitors. In the ensuing battle, Vin's earring is torn out of her ear, finally allowing her to absorb the power of the mists. In a devastating show of power, Vin levels most of Kredik Shaw and kills the Inquisitors, but is vaporized herself as she ascends to take up the Shard Preservation and attempted to right the world but failed in almost the same way as Rashek. With the knowledge of the atium stash's location, Elend sets out for the kandra Homeland. On his journey he is left wondering why so many people had gotten sick longer than others when they had been exposed to the mists. Upon arriving at the kandra Homeland, he discovers the atium in the Trustwarren and comes to the realization that those sick for longer had become atium Mistings. Using this powerful force, they meet the approaching koloss army on the fields outside the Homeland. Fighting until their atium is used up, Elend confronts a Ruin-controlled Marsh. Watching the fight between Elend and Marsh, fueling the former with mist-power, Vin witnesses her husband die and, with nothing left to lose, she hurls herself at the form of Ruin, destroying them both and leaving Sazed to pick up the two Shards. As the new Shard of Harmony, he uses all of the knowledge from his copperminds to bring the world back to its pre-Rashek state -- the orbit is corrected and green plants and colorful flowers return. As Scadrial is now safe, Sazed, as Harmony, leaves Spook a note, explaining how Elend and Vin are happy together and he makes Spook a Mistborn. Characters Category:Mistborn Category:Fantasy Category:Novel Category:Cosmere